Step 6: Crack the lightbulb

Step 7: Mount it on the wall

Now that you have this killer Concrete Lightbulb Wall Hook, it's time to mount it into the wall. The steps here are fairly simple. 1) Find the stud....

This is how to make an excellent excuse for driving a lag bolt into your wall, the Concrete Lightbulb Wall Hook. Functional yet sylish, it gives a nice industrial design feel wherever you mount it.

Last winter after breaking out the serious cold weather gear, I found myself fighting the coat rack next to the front door. It was, to put it bluntly, failing miserably. Tipping over, breaking off, it was a mess. I swore before the next winter I would drive some serious hooks into the wall that would handle all my heavy overcoat needs. I just haven't seen any kickass hooks yet that I liked enough to justify making serious holes in my walls.

Cut to the last few months. As mentioned in my blog ( here, here, and here) I've been playing around, trying to make a concrete lightbulb. Why? Because I find the contrast of blending a new material like concrete in an everyday shape like a lightbulb to be a great design element. So while messing around with these guys, I realized this would be a great excuse to drive lag bolts into my wall for hooks. By embedding a lag bolt into the concrete lightbulb, I could make a wall hook that was useful enough to handle anything I wanted to hang off it. Thus this project was born.

This is an entry in the Etsy/Instructables SewUseful Contest, so if you love this idea but don't want to make it yourself, not to worry! I have them for sale in my Etsy Shop. Click here to order yours today! Yes, it's an entry into a sewing contest without any sewing. Sometimes you just gotta.

Check out my other entry into the SewUseful Contest (also without sewing!) - "Big Brass Ones"

Yes, it is resin. To get this golden color I had to experiment with the resin:hardener ratios. I had done a clear one in the proper ratios as per manufacturers instructions, but it doesn't have nearly the same visual appeal to it.

That caption on the last picture of this step threw me off. I have a tendancy of not finishing what I start, so I went to my oven and set the pre-heat to 375. Then, after setting the timer as well, I came back and finished reading the caption. I did my first ever, REAL facepalm today.

I made a door handle of gypsum instead of concrete. I wanted the glass to be on the handle, but the gypsum got realy hot under the hardening, and the glass cracked. So I took the glass of and the result was better than i hoped for

here in des moines Iowa we have gotten about a foot of snow in one night... everything closed down except for the des moines public school district (dmps). they never close for anything..... also I do not like the cold at all!!!!! I lived I tucson Arizona before Iowa and I am used to highs of 110 degrees F.........

In one side I've been thinking on how to recycle soiled light bulbs but I didn't find it any easy myself.

In the other I love to hang my stuff on doors to get them more availableand keep a roomier wardrobe, but this kind of hungers aren't so easy to find, most of them fall down to the floor within the first week.

This looked like fun so I gave it a try. unfortunately I could only find hydraulic cement which sets in about 5 minutes. to add to my woes, I got the piece all put together (bolt not straight but, all else looked good for a first try) but then dropped it the following day. the bulb came off easily but it is !missing the shininess of the one in the 'ible. Someone suggested using polishing compound which helped some but I think I'll end painting this one to cover the flaws.

After painting, I intent to drill through a porcelain fixture and insert the cast into it as if it were a real light. I wonder how many folks it'll fool! perhaps I should use space under the porcelain fixture as a safe. talk about mixing content.

For a first try not too bad though. I've now got some mortar mix and am anxious to give my next one a try.

Does anyone know how to safely dismantle a cfl? I think one of those would be fun to try as a cast.

This is a fantastic idea actually! My husband and I are trying to go with a very contemporary, modern style in our home. Having concrete lightbulbs for coat hangers would go perfectly with our theme. I will have to check first, but I think that my husband will love them too! Cambria Rhay | http://www.heritageblds.com

I wonder if a different, less messy (no broken glass each time) way to do this would be to perhaps make a 2-part urethane mold of a lightbulb. You get the same accuracy, and can pull many parts from the mold over time. Also, there are good concrete mixes that will cure in under an hour with very nice results.

I hope you don't mind...I placed a link to your site on my site... http://cehalles.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/my-simple-creations/...I needed good instructions for hollowing out the light bulb and urs are very clear...thanks

That is a pretty awesome idea. I love to learn about little things like this that really improve on a lot of the things you would just buy in the store without thinking about it. I'll have to try that.

noahspurrier says: "I make cement spheres the same way! I use pure expansive cement (AKA expansion cement) with no aggregate, which creates a different look. It has no aggregate and no voids. The expansive cement has one advantage in that it actually cracks itself out of the glass mold."